Advances in the field of telecommunications allow large amounts of digital information to be delivered to a residence. Digital telecommunications networks (access systems), such as Hybrid-Fiber-Coax (HFC), Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC), and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), can provide both traditional telecommunications services such as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) as well as advanced services such as Switched Digital Video (SDV) and high-speed data access. Devices inside the residence, will be connected to the network by twisted wire pairs which provide telephone services today, or by coaxial cable similar to that used by cable operators to provide cable television (TV) services. Because of this range of services, it is likely that digital networks will be widely deployed. In a widespread deployment of digital networks, millions of homes will connect to the digital networks.
Because the majority of new video services will be digital, and because existing TVs are analog, there is a need for a device, hereinafter referred to as a Residential Gateway (RG), to convert the digital signals supplied by the network to analog signals compatible with existing TVs. Furthermore, there is a need for the RG to act as an interface subsystem for each device connected to the digital network. For example, the RG needs to act as a Premises Interface Device (PID) to extract time division multiplexed information and generate a telephone signal, and an Ethernet Bridge or Router (EBR) to generate a signal compatible with a computer.
Numerous connectors may be required as multiple devices are connected to the RG and will transmit signals to and from the RG. Thus, there is a need for an apparatus that combines multiple devices and connections into a single device so as to simplify the installation of the RG.